


Midnight

by Baconfat



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Extra Verse, M/M, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 18:50:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16498235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baconfat/pseuds/Baconfat
Summary: Ignis looked at him as closely as he could in the dark. "How... conscious were you?"Noct rubbed at the back of his neck, aware of the air in his lungs, the ring on his finger, the cool night air and the sound of crickets outside the tent. How it felt to be awake and alive and anchored in a body after ten years in the Crystal. "I don't remember too well. Feels like a dream, now."





	Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> This will make sliiightly more sense if you've read the other stuff in [this collection](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ExtraVerseSB).

Noct surfaced from sleep to a flash of light. _Daemons_ , he thought, rolling over. "Ignis?"

Noct could just make him out by the thin moonlight filtering in through the tent. Ignis was sitting up straight, his glasses off and his daggers in hand, staring at Noct like _he_ was a daemon. "Noctis?" 

He sounded... lost. "What's wrong?"

Ignis blinked at the daggers in his hands like he'd never seen them before, and they vanished back into the armiger. "Nothing," he said, trying to adjust the glasses he wasn't wearing. "My apologies."

"Nothing," Noct repeated. "Just... playing with knives in the middle of the night?"

Ignis gave him a look. And breathed out, rubbing at his eyes. "A nightmare," he said stiffly. "Nothing to be concerned about, Majesty."

Oh. "Sorry." It was hard to imagine Ignis dreaming at all. Noct didn't want to deal with the idea of him waking up alone and scared. "You want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

Of course not. "Wish we still had Carbuncle."

Ignis's mouth quirked up. "I believe the figurine is still in the glove box."

"Seriously?" Noct laughed. "No wonder you're having bad dreams. He wants out."

"I'll be sure to take him for a walk in the morning."

"You better."

They shared a grin, and in the dark it was easy to forget everything that'd happened. To believe that they were back in Noct's room at the Citadel, whispering under the covers.

Ignis looked away after a minute, shifting on his bedroll, pulling at the worn cuffs of his sleeping shirt. "When you were in the crystal," he said, very quietly. For a long minute, Noct thought that was it, but eventually he finished, "The fact that I could still access the armiger was a great comfort to me."

The armiger. Noct hadn't even thought about it. The idea that they might have been cut off from it made him feel sick. "I'm sorry, Ignis."

Ignis blinked at him.

"For — jumping in like that, without knowing what I was doing."

"Your Majesty —"

 _"Ignis_."

Ignis took a breath, let it out. "Noct."

"That's better."

Ignis pulled his glasses on, so he could properly give him a Look. "You have nothing to apologize for. You had no way of knowing what the stone would ask of you, or how long it would take. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me."

"What?" Noct laughed.

"It was _my_ duty to prepare you for what lay ahead. If I'd spent more time studying the legends and learning the cosmogony, had I questioned your father more closely when I had the chance —"

"Ignis. Stop. Everything turned out fine."

"Fine?" Ignis demanded, shoving his glasses up. "You spent ten years, trapped —"

"At least I knew what was happening," Noct cut in. "I knew I'd be able to put an end to things. And I knew, somehow, that you guys were okay." He shrugged. "Maybe 'cause you kept summoning your weapons."

Ignis looked at him as closely as he could in the dark. "How... conscious were you?"

Noct rubbed at the back of his neck, aware of the air in his lungs, the ring on his finger, the cool night air and the sound of crickets outside the tent. How it felt to be awake and alive and anchored in a body. "I don't remember too well. Feels like a dream, now. I think sometimes I _was_ dreaming, some pretty weird stuff. I dreamt about you, making food and arguing with Gladio and fighting daemons in the dark." Nightmares, too, about him dying on the floor of Zegnautus Keep, burned up by the ring. About him blind and stumbling but still carrying the rest of them. "Mostly I just... remembered the good times. Camping. Fishing. Hanging out with you guys. Accidentally setting that patch of wild broccoli on fire."

"Accidentally," Ignis said flatly.

Noct grinned. "Writing stuff on Gladio's face while he was asleep and seeing how long it took him to notice."

Ignis laughed. It was a good sound.

"...It didn't feel like ten years," Noct finished. "But if I'd known it would be, I would have taken a minute to say goodbye."

After a few seconds of quiet, Ignis said, "Perhaps it's best that you didn't." He paused. "I... don't know that I could be trusted not to try and stop you."

Noct probably shouldn't have felt good about that. He arched his eyebrows. "You think you could have stopped me?"

Ignis snorted. "Likely not. Which would have made it all the more embarrassing."

Noct didn't want to think about that. About how hard or how easy it might have been to talk him out of it. "Gladio would've ripped you a new one."

"He would have tried," Ignis sniffed.

"Anyway. We needed the light from the crystal. You might have strategized your way around everything else, but that was kinda crucial."

"Indeed," Ignis agreed, but he sounded disappointed in himself, like he'd oversalted the fish. "But the price we paid still seems far too steep."

"Could've been worse," Noct told him. Didn't mention the other nightmares, the feel of his dad's sword ripping through his chest, or the million ways he'd dreamed of saving Luna. "All in all, I think we got a bargain."

Ignis smiled at him, that same soft Ignis smile he hadn't turned off since they made the sun rise. Noct seriously needed to up his game, start annoying him again. Maybe use one of his good kitchen knives to shave or something.

"You ready to go back to bed?" Noct asked.

"I thought perhaps we might make an early start," Ignis said cheerfully. "Beginning with a good breakfast."

"I don't think so," Noct yawned, crawling over to get comfortable, throwing an arm over Ignis to keep him from sneaking out to start the coffee.

"I don't believe this bedroll is meant for two," Ignis tried to protest, but he was already making room.

"Then maybe you should get a bigger one," Noct mumbled into his shoulder. 

"Do _you_ intend to pay for it?" Ignis said indignantly.

"I'm fine with this," Noct said, closing his eyes, feeling Ignis breathe. "Pillow's not bad, either." No answer to that, but after a minute or ten, he felt Ignis's hand settle warm on his back. "G'night, Iggy."

Ignis's, "Good night, Noct," was so soft he might have dreamed it.


End file.
